The Extreme Fundraising Blog

Campaign Officer Opening
This opening has come across my desk. If I weren’t so happily employed I’d seriously look at it. It sounds like fun! If you’re interested in learning more, or know someone that may be, just send an to Andrew Wheeler at his email below.

Bowdoin College in Maine seeks a talented individual to join the Development Office as a Capital Gift Officer. This person must possess a track record of cultivating relationships and have relevant experience (preferrably five years) soliticing gifts for either an educational, cultural, healthcare, or a non-profit organization. Ideal candidate will have a liberal arts educational background or have worked in this environment. Contact Andrew Wheeler at andrew.wheeler@divsearch.com for more information.

entitlement
n : right granted by law or contract (especially a right to benefits)

[Written Wednesday, July 20, 2005]
Yet again it’s time for Maine Public Broadcasting to do it’s pledge drive. Rather than the normal NPR news programs, now much of the time is given over to folks talking about the importance of being a member. I appreciate public radio and am grateful for the programming. I really want to give money. But I’m afraid my gift may encourage them to continue raise money by interrupting my life as they’ve been doing for decades.

I couldn’t live with that on my conscience.

I think what irks me most is the sense of entitlement the MPBN folks seem to have. I’m sure they don’t mean to. But to an outsider, it often sounds like they’re whining.

Here are some examples from the 7:55 a.m. slot on Wednesday, July 20. (Not exact quotes but very close. I’ve been hearing this stuff all week.)

• When I hear: “We’ve already committed to the programming. Our bills are coming in. So now you have to pay.”
  I think things like: “Your not being able to pay your bills isn’t my responsibility. I can’t just hop on the radio when I can’t pay my bills. I certainly couldn’t run my business that way either. If they don’t have even a rough idea if they’ll be able to cover their committments, why would I want to give money to them in the first place?
• When I hear things like: “Membership is important. You get to decide what is played here. You get to belong. We chose programs in response to members’ surveys and comments. Now you need to do your part and join.”
  I think things like: “Who are you talking to? Me as a non-member or your current members. As a non-member, I certainly am not responsible to pay for choices you made based on member feedback. I’m not a member. I started pulling out my wallet when you talked about the importance of belonging and having a voice. But I shoved it back into my pocket when it felt like you were trying to guilt me into paying for decisions I didn’t have a voice in.”

I could go on but probably shouldn’t. Who do they think is really listening? I bet it worked decades ago when there weren’t many stations to choose from. But in an age of channel surfing, iPods, and satellite radio, interruption marketing is deadly. People will just surf away until the pitch is over.

I don’t think I’d mind a 2- to 3-day pledge drive. But keeping it going until they’ve reached the goal seems wrong. Each show always has sponsorship blurbs. Why can’t they air 10 second clips from regular members during the regular shows.

So why have I devoted so much of this issue of Extreme Fundraising to this rant? Because entitlement strikes us all.

Look at your web page or your latest fundraising appeal. How many times do you use the pronouns “we” and “us” or “you” and “yours”?

Donors aren’t really interested in us. And no organization is entitled to a donor’s money. Whether the donor’s money is just that–her money. The challenge for us is to market our benefits to donors. Yep, market.

I’ve written an article on The Rule of Threes, a tool I use with my clients to help them tell their story consistently and organically. You can download The Rule of Threes PDF file here or view it online here.

In the meantime, let’s remember that we need to earn the priviledge of being given money by a donor. And let’s work hard to earn it!

I’ve been a big fan of goal setting and planning. It’s great to get a chance to lift our head out of the day-to-day drudgery and remember why we do what we do.

When I wanted to combine the power of planning and the beauty of simplicity, I created my own MagnetGoals program and e-course. The steps are simple but definitely not easy!

Even though I’ve written a program, I am always learning. These days, I’m getting a lot out of ForImpact.org. I’ve just finished the first step in writing a 1,000 Day Action Plan. I recommend you stop reading this blog, click through to it now, and get started!

I love these exercises. They become self-fulfilling prophecies!

Here are two other great ForImpact articles:

• Act Now

and

• The Power of For Impact Math.

Wow. Isn’t it fulfilling to remember we are impacting people’s lives?

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I. Fundraising Follies: Forgetting the Story
II. Resource Spotlight: WeReview

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I. Fundraising Follies: Forgetting the Story
It seems so much of our time in the nonprofit world is what I call “present-future focus.” Our organizations can see the present and know exactly what we’re looking for in the future.But this present-future focus can cause us to forget the past. 

Without the past, we wouldn’t have a present.

One of the reasons I love fundraising is that we get to learn the stories of our organizations. We also get to tell those stories to any and all that will listen. Everybody has a story to tell. And you’d be amazed at how willing they are to tell it.

I consider one of my unofficial titles to be “Keeper of the Lore.”

Asking the story is “right” on so many levels:

• We prove to donors, and ourselves, that we are moreinterested in people than their pocket books.
• We honor the hard work and sacrifices that people made forour organizations.
• We get to tell these great stories to the people that arecurrently working in the organization.

I’m sure there’s more. It’s incredibly rewarding to see people thoroughly enjoy remembering the past. And there is a fundraising payoff: the whole time they’re remembering, they’re selling themselves on the how much they love our organization.

Although you won’t make a solicitation during this meeting, this could set the stage for any sort of ask, including planned gifts.

One more thing about telling the story: if your organization has donor plaques up, make it your role to be sure that they never get lost. So many times we change our facilities to meet our expanding needs. This is right and good. But we forget to honor the memory of the donors that sacrificed in the past. Find some way to make sure the plaques are taken care of.

Have fun keeping the lore!

II. Resource Spotlight: WeReview
I know I keep talking about CharityChannel, but it is an incredible resource. One of my favorite parts of the CharityChannel site is the WeReview section. With so many books being published that it’s hard to keep up.

WeReview helps. Here you can check out reviews of the newest books written by our colleagues around the world. And my favorite part: if you sign up for the WeReview newsletter, these terrific reviews can be delivered to your inbox.

To your extreme fundraising success!